page_title: North Borneo
section_title: Foundation and early years
hierarchical_section_title: North Borneo / History / Foundation and early years
caption_attribution_description: English: North Borneo Chartered Company: Sir Alfred Dent
context_page_description: North Borneo was a British protectorate located in the northern part of the island of Borneo. The territory of North Borneo was originally established by concessions of the Sultanates of Brunei and Sulu in 1877 and 1878 to a German-born representative of Austria-Hungary, a businessman and diplomat, von Overbeck.
  Overbeck had recently purchased a small tract of land in the western coast of Borneo in 1876 from American merchant Joseph William Torrey, who had promoted the territory in Hong Kong since 1866.
  Overbeck then transferred all his rights to Alfred Dent before withdrawing in 1879. In 1881, Dent established the North Borneo Provisional Association Ltd to manage the territory, which was granted a royal charter in the same year. The following year, the Provisional Association was replaced by the North Borneo Chartered Company. The granting of a royal charter worried both the neighbouring Spanish and Dutch authorities; as a result, the Spanish began to stake their claim of northern Borneo.
context_section_description: North Borneo was founded in 1877–1878 through a series of land concessions in northern Borneo from the Sultanate of Brunei and Sulu to an Austrian-German businessman and diplomat, von Overbeck. A former American Trading Company of Borneo territory in the western coast of northern Borneo had already passed to Overbeck, requiring him to go to Brunei to renew the concession of the land he bought from Joseph William Torrey. William Clark Cowie played an important role as a close friend of the Sultanate of Sulu in helping Overbeck to buy additional land in the eastern coast of Borneo. Meanwhile, the Sultanate of Bulungan's influence also reached Tawau in eastern southern coast, but came under the influence of the more dominating Sulu Sultanate.
  Following his success in buying large tract of lands from both the western and eastern part of northern Borneo, Overbeck went to Europe to promote the territory in Austria-Hungary and Italy as well as in his own country of Germany, but none showed any real interest. Only Great Britain, which had sought to control trade routes in the Far East since the 18th century, responded. The interest of the British was strengthened by their presence in Labuan since 1846. As a result, Overbeck received a financial support from the British Dent brothers (Alfred Dent and Edward Dent) and diplomatic and military support from the British government. Following the entrance of support from the British side, a clause was included in the treaties that the ceded territories could not be given to another party without the permission of the British government.
  Unable to attract the interest of the governments of Austria and Germany, Overbeck withdrew in 1879; all his treaty rights with the Sultanates were transferred to Alfred Dent, who in 1881 formed the North Borneo Provisional Association Ltd with the support of countrymen Rutherford Alcock, Admiral Henry Keppel, Richard Biddulph Martin, Admiral Richard Mayne and William Henry Read. The Provisional Association then applied to Queen Victoria for a royal charter, which was granted on 1 November 1881. William Hood Treacher was appointed as the first governor, and Kudat at the northern tip of Borneo was chosen as the Provisional Association administration capital. The granting of royal charter had worried both Dutch and the Spanish, who feared that Britain might threatening the position of their colony.
  In May 1882, the Provisional Association was replaced by the newly formed North Borneo Chartered Company with Alcock acting as the first President and Dent becoming the company managing director. The administration is not considered as a British acquisition of the territory, but rather simply as a private enterprise with government guidelines to protect the territory from being encroached upon by other European powers. Under Governor Treacher, the company gained more territories on the western coast from the Sultanate of Brunei. The company subsequently acquired further sovereign and territorial rights from the sultan of Brunei, expanding the territory under control to the Putatan river (May 1884), the Padas district (November 1884), the Kawang river (February 1885), the Mantanani Islands (April 1885) and additional minor Padas territories (March 1898).
  At the early stage of the administration, there was a claim in northern Borneo from the Spanish authorities in the Philippines when an attempt to raise the Spanish flag over Sandakan was met interference by a British warship. To prevent further conflict and ending the Spanish claim to northern Borneo, an agreement known as the Madrid Protocol was signed in Madrid between the United Kingdom, Germany and Spain in 1885, recognising the Spanish presence in the Philippine archipelago. As the company did not wish to be involved in further foreign affairs issues, North Borneo was made a protectorate on 12 May 1888. In 1890, Labuan was incorporated into the administration of North Borneo before returned to British government rule in 1904. There were several local insurrections from 1894 to 1900 by Mat Salleh and by Anta
caption: Alfred Dent, the founder of North Borneo Provisional Association Ltd (later replaced by the North Borneo Chartered Company) was the key player to the establishment of solid British presence in northern Borneo.
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